Warning over passport checks

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Hi-tech terrorists are using increasingly sophisticated methods of passport forgery and South-East Asian countries need to strengthen their controls, officials and experts said today.

The warning came as the Australian government launched its first training program at a new US-backed South-East Asian counter-terrorism centre in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

Twenty-four officials from seven South-East Asian countries and East Timor are taking part in the four-day program on "advanced training in document examination".

"As technology becomes more sophisticated and terrorists become more knowledgeable, the regions' officials too need to equip themselves with the latest information to stay ahead," said Zainal Abidin Zain, director of the South-East Asian Regional Centre for Counter-Terrorism (SEARCCT).

Patricia Moss, forensic document examiner with the Australian Department of Immigration, said it was important that immigration officers equipped themselves with knowledge of counterfeit travel documents.

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"It's not laxness in the security of the documents, it's the inexperience and lack of knowledge of the airport staff including immigration inspections and airport check-in," she told reporters at the start of the conference.

"Desktop technology makes it much easier for the issuing office to issue the passports but it also makes it easier for the counterfeiters."

The SEARCCT was established in Kuala Lumpur last year and focuses on capacity-building, human resources development and exchange of information to fight terrorism in the region, where the main threat comes from the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI) network.

JI was responsible for the Bali bombings in Indonesia which killed 202 people, 88 of them Australians, nearly two years ago.

Australia's involvement in SEARCCT is another sign of improved ties with Malaysia since the retirement last year of former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who led resistance to Canberra's attempts to play a role in South-East Asian economic and political forums.

He dismissed Australia as the "deputy sheriff" of the United States and not truly Asian, but relations have improved markedly since Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over last October.

"This cooperation reflects our shared determination to work together to eliminate international terrorism," Australia's acting High Commissioner Simon Merrifield said in a statement ahead of the conference.

"It reinforces the excellent cooperation Australia has developed with regional countries in fighting this threat."